Tim Beiser

There, There is about a bear and a hare who get stuck inside on a rainy day. The hare gets frustrated and complains about it while the bear cooks and tries to keep the hare calm. It ends with the bear telling the hare to be glad he's not a worm, which makes the worm feel bad. It's an okay story though I'm not crazy about the ending, which could come across to children as suggesting that you should feel good about being better than someone else. I find the style of the illustrations a bit show more busy, and they're in a pretty dull colours for a children's book, with a lot of browns and dull earth tones. show less

Bradley McGogg, the Very Fine Frog is a wonderfully old-fashioned picture book. The high quality paper and lovely watercolour illustrations by Rachel Berman make this an enchanting read. Told in rhyme, this is the story of Bradley McGogg, who lives rather happily in his hollowed-out log until one day he realizes he is getting thin, and he must go out to find some food. He visits his neighbours, and is offered many mouth-watering delicacies, such as ‘cheddar with chives and a peppercorn show more dusting’, and ‘carrots covered in honey’. Bradley is not impressed with these offerings, and makes his excuses to avoid eating the fancy foods. When he finally arrives back home his log is filled with bugs – ‘His house was a-crawl with a pest infestation’ - which is exactly the kind of food he was looking for all along!

This book works exceptionally well as a read-aloud, and has been enjoyed by students in many different grades in my library. It would also work well as an introduction to a unit on healthy eating or ecosystems.

Also posted at http://manybooksmanyvoices.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/164/ show less

“There, There” is a delightful picture book, composed of a lovely rhyming structure and fun, unique illustrations. I found myself a little disappointed with the ending, but as I have reread the book with my child, it has grown on me. There is certainly humor that is accessible to children and adults.

The book is beautifully illustrated, but the message itself was questionable enough that it won't be earning a permanent place on my shelf.

The story concerned a rabbit who was upset because of the rain, cared for by a patient bear who eventually loses that patience and wants to teach the rabbit a lesson about gratitude. So far so good, but the way that lesson was conveyed was to show that there were others out in the world who have it worse, as embodied by a worm.

While I fully support the show more notion of being grateful, I feel like the "others have it worse" message is misguided. Not only that, but no attempt was made to care for the worm or improve its lot in any way. That communicates that though we can be grateful for what we have, caring for others who do have it worse is not required. show less